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"To harm the earth is to heap contempt on its creator", says
Eleanor Scott, quoting from native American philosopher Chief
Seattle. It may seem a strange thing for the self-confessed "least
spiritual member of the Green group" of MSPs to say, but she admits
to having some spiritual influences. Many of the people she
has been influenced by have been very spiritual. Her mother grew up
in a very religious mining community in Lanarkshire and "has a
bible for perfect attendance for 5 years at Sunday School" but
later became very anti-religion. Now in her eighties, "she would
deny it, but she's very influenced by the teachings she grew up
with and you can see that in the values she holds." It is to her
mother she attributes her sense of justice and fair play. She
"personified both the best and worst of socialism", says Scott, "if
she had a box of chocolates everyone got two and if you only wanted
one she couldn't cope with that! Everybody would have to have
two chocolates - not three or only one"; she was "scrupulously
fair". The "environmental side of things" stems from her father, a
keen gardener who was interested in nature.
Eleanor's first association with politics in her teens was
influenced by the fact of her best friend's father being a Labour
councillor. "I reckoned I was a socialist and the Labour Party was
socialist," she says. The local branch had a rather ageing activist
base and welcomed the teenagers' ability to go upstairs and put
leaflets through doors. "They didn't actually want to hear our
ideas but they wanted our leg power" she remarks ruefully. So
she joined the party when she was 15 and left four years later
after a dispute over candidate selection. It wasn't until 1989 that
she joined the Green Party, having found there was a party which
reflected her ideals.
If there's one thing guaranteed to make her blood boil it's
people taking the earth for granted or "thinking you can continue
to abuse it and it will heal itself and be there for us." She has
little time for people who don't think about where things come
from, especially those who are educated and comfortably off, who
"should know better", who seem to think "mobile phones grow on
trees and electricity happens by magic when you switch the light on
… quite well educated people that have no excuse to be as ignorant
as that." She recounts the time she heard a woman on the radio
remark that they had heard of someone in South America who lived
entirely on natural resources - "and I thought what does she think
she lives on?"
Concern for the environment is intertwined for her with concern
for the community. "Green philosophy is built on the twin pillars
of environmental and social justice. They are both equally
important and you can't have one without the other…. environmental
degradation affects poor people much worse than it affects the rich
who can distance themselves."
EF Schumacher's groundbreaking book 'Small is beautiful' -
subtitled 'a study of economics as if people mattered' and
published in 1973 - has been a major influence. Others she admires
include French farmer Jose Bove, the anti-big business activist,
jailed for destroying a Macdonalds; and, from the Highlands,
organic farmer and GM protester Donnie MacLeod - also a candidate
for the Greens - who spent time in jail for refusing to give
evidence against another protester: "he is a man who tried to
protect a local farmer, a respectable business man, not somebody
you would expect to find in jail, but he was prepared to do that
for his beliefs so he's a local hero".
The volume of post and emails have been a "bit of an
eye-opener." Everyone who produces a report sends a copy to all the
MSPs automatically, she reflects, creating a "huge amount of mail
and a mountain of e-mails… I didn't expect it to be an easy job but
I am amazed at the volume of paper which comes to the office". The
Westminster-style debating, she has found a bit disappointing. "A
government minister says something and the backbenchers all cheer
and bang on the desk and then the opposition says something and the
SNP all cheer and bang on theirs."
The media seem to find the Greens position difficult to deal
with, accusing them of "having it both ways - supporting both
government and opposition" but she sees no conflict in agreeing
with the government on a particular issue and with the opposition
on another; "We can maybe show that there is a more constructive
approach to politics. I think that would engage a lot of people who
would otherwise see it as a bit of a dog fight."
As for the role of the Church in civic society, Scott perceives
a parallel with that of the Greens in Parliament. Robin Harper has
been described as the 'green conscience' of the parliament and "in
many ways the churches have been the conscience of society… that's
recognised even by people like myself who aren't churchgoers."
Neither the churches nor the Greens represent a majority of people,
she notes, yet have a "particular voice because (they) have a
particular message".
Scott hopes for a Scotland where environmental aspects are
mainstreamed into every issue: "a political thinking where
automatically … the environmental and social aspects of it are part
of the equation right from the beginning, so you wouldn't dream of
proposing a motorway without thinking "is this going to increase
traffic, is this going to increase pollution, how is it going to
affect people living beside it?"
Scott maintains that the Green Party policy of lowering voting
age to 16 would make a real impact. "When they are doing standard
grades and highers at school, young people are quite politically
aware and passionate about issues. By the time they are 18
they have often left school and taken on adult cynicism. I think if
they get into the voting habit at 16 you might keep them there" she
explains.
Scott's long-term partner, Rob Gibson, is also a Highlands list
MSP - representing the SNP. It's something they are evidently very
comfortable with, having been active in their respective parties
before the relationship began, and the perks include having someone
to travel with to Parliament. "If one of us got elected and the
other hadn't, the one that wasn't elected would have been very
supportive but there would have been a sense of …" she makes a
frustrated face "through clenched teeth - terribly supportive
but …!"
The established parties regard the Greens a 'bit more seriously
now.' She smiles as she recalls how inexplicably generous the
Labour Party were, following a re-allocation of space in Parliament
HQ. The Green group suddenly found themselves with a better office
with lots of windows and light - "we wondered why they were being
so nice to us, then we realised they didn't want us being next door
to the SSP!"
In addition to a nice office, the Greens find themselves with
much more tangible benefits - a deputy convenership of the
Environment Committee, and it's Eleanor Scott who is to fill this
role. The former community paediatrician also holds the Greens'
health portfolio, so what are her hopes for this session of
parliament? "I just hope that what comes out of this parliament
will be greener than what come out of the last parliament because
of our influence. I can't say more than that. "